Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Elsewhere. Sun Rising in the West.

The Regular Life

Come October, the rising of the sun (well, our turning
toward it) comes later. So that when I, often a night owl, woke early and
headed to the pool at the rec. area, the world was still in shadow. Unlike many
previous mornings—misty, grey, overcast—the sky was clear. I eased into the
water (which, admittedly, seems colder and colder as summer fades), facing
west, and began my routine of fast jogging (as fast as you can jog in water,
which is slow), the brain going elsewhere. My quiet half hour that starts the
day.

The view across the street turned into a stage set, complete
with lighting. At the highest tip of the liquid amber tree, its foliage the elongated
oval of a giant grapefruit spoon, two lone leaves turned from dull grey to
copper as if a spotlight had been turned on. To the north, stand two huge old
eucalyptus trees, the bark of their trunks smooth, tinted several earth-tone
shades. Another spotlight flicked on, turning uppermost leaves golden.

Copper slowly painted the liquid amber leaves, save for a
strange semi circle that remained the dull color of early dawn. And it dawned (uh-oh,
little pun there) on me to turn, facing east, to study the shape of the big
tree that had been behind me to see how it had blocked the sun from the section
of the liquid amber I’d faced.

Instead of following my usual routine (ten minutes in
shallow end doing press-downs with empty milk bottles, my uberly expensive
exercise equipment, then ten with aqua-belt in deep end, then ten of laps), I
kept up the run, jog, walk to watch the sun rise in the west and north.
Hypnotically, majestically, more and more of the onstage tree brightened; color
climbed down the trunks of the eucalyptus, until the sun kissed the deck, turning
a nondescript faded pink to, hmmmm, the color of marigolds . . .

That half hour of nature’s theater took the place of my
usual day-planning, plot unraveling, mental guinea pig wheel To Do list.
Critic’s assessment? Golden. Riveting. Mesmerizing. Not to be missed.